Write a concise 5-7 page paper using the following guidelines:
Papers must be handed in on time. No credit will be given for late papers.
1. All papers will be evaluated based on how well they do the following:
a. Select appropriate concepts from course materials.
b. Define the concepts using your own words and citations from the readings.
c. Relate each concept to a specific example from the book, In Search of Respect.
2. Papers should (1) contain page numbers and (2) be formatted as follows: 12-point Times New Roman font, double spaced, one-inch margins on all sides. Failure to do so will result in the loss of 1/3 of a letter grade.
3. Cite examples you use from Siegel’s text book, In Search of Respect, any assigned articles or the scholarly source you choose to locate. Include a reference list at the end of your paper.
4. Plagiarism of ANY KIND is grounds for FAILURE and DISCIPLINARY ACTION.
a. Students are expected to adhere to the code of academic honesty as set forth in Framingham State University’s Policy Regarding Academic Honesty (for details of this policy refer to the University Catalog or see https://www.framingham.edu/Assets/uploads/academics/catalogs/_documents/undergraduate-catalogs/2015-2016-undergraduate-catalog/undergraduate-catalog-2015-2016.pdf.
5. PROOFREAD CAREFULLY!

Suggestions for Writing a Good Paper:
1. Don’t use dictionary definitions
a. Whenever possible, try to put the definition in your own words.
b. Should you decide to use a text book definition, which is always preferred over a dictionary, cite the text.
2. Clearly define your concepts (terms, theories, paradigms, etc). The point is to show me that you know the material you’re discussing. Pretend your reader has no idea what you’re talking about
3. Besides offering support for your theory as the explanation, you should give reasons/examples for why other theories are insufficient, inappropriate, etc.
4. Clearly connect your concepts to examples in the book, citing page numbers.
5. Be CAUTIOUS of Internet resources: “Garbage in/Garbage out”

Citing Within the Text:
• If you use a direct quote from a book, you need to include a reference after to the quote to indicate where it came from. The format for these “in-text” citations is as follows:
o “[O]ne has to assume that a high proportion of households with no wage or salary income probably rely on some combination of untaxed, undeclared income to continue subsisting” (Bourgois 2003: 6).
o “Chicago school sociologists argued that crime was not a function of personal traits or characteristics but, rather, a reaction to an environment that was inadequate for proper human relations and development” (Siegel 2014: 12).

• If you quote a class PowerPoint presentation:
o Shaw and McKay suggest that rapid industrialization, urbanization, and/or immigration can contribute to what they call social disorganization (Ferraro 2016a).
o The status of “criminal” is a master status that carries with it negative auxiliary traits (Ferraro 2016b).
• Note:
o If citing multiple sources (book, article, lectures, etc.) by the same author in the same year, you differentiate them in the “in-text” citations by marking the earliest source with the letter ‘a’ after the year, the next earliest source with the letter ‘b,’ the third earliest source with the letter ‘c,’ and so on.

Reference List, using the American Sociological Association’s citation format (aka ASA Style)

On a separate page at the end of your paper, titled “Works Cited,” you will include the full citations for you’re the sources you referenced in your paper. This way your reader can find the items you used in your analysis. Your reference list should be organized alphabetically by author’s last name. If your paper used the in-text citations from above, the reference list would look like the following:

Bourgois, Philippe. 2003. In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. 2nd edition. Berkeley:
University of California Press.

Ferraro, Vincent. 2016a. “Social Structural Theories.” Framingham State University Lecture Notes.
Framingham, MA. July 22.

Ferraro, Vincent. 2016b. “Social Process Theories.” Framingham State University Lecture Notes.
Framingham, MA. July 25.

Siegel, Larry J. 2014. Criminology: The Core. 5th edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Click here for more examples on citing both within text and in the reference list, or check out the ASA Style Guide available in the “Syllabus and Introductory Materials” section of Blackboard.

For class lectures, the format above starts with the instructor’s name, followed by: the year in which the lecture was given (use the letters a, b, c, etc. to distinguish between multiple lectures in the same year); followed by the title of the lecture in quotation marks; the name of the university at which the lecture was given; the city and state in which it is located; and the approximate date of the lecture.

Paragraph Unity
(adapted from Macdonald 2001)

An essay is not a collection of random fact, thoughts or ideas. It is a cohesive piece of writing that develops one central idea through certain steps. Those steps are paragraphs. Sentences within an effective paragraph support and extend one another in various ways, creating a single, unfolding idea.

Components of a paragraph:
1. Topic sentence
2. Definition and clarification of topic
3. Concrete, specific examples to illustrate and support topic
4. redefinition of topic/summary of paragraph’s ideas
5. Transition sentence

Topic Sentence:
• States the main idea of the paragraph
• Controls and provides direction for the rest of the paragraph
• Usually one of the first few sentences on the paragraph

Transition Sentence:
• Shows the relationship between the previous and the next paragraphs
• Asks questions that the next paragraph will answer
• Will carry forward a position or attitude from a previous paragraph
• Can come at the beginning or the end of a paragraph

NOTE: In some cases, the same sentence can serve both functions.

For Example:

The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife, this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the old selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world.4 He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.
–Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk